Verdona
Verdona Tennyson is the Anodite partner of Max Tennyson, mother of Carl and Frank Tennyson, and grandmother of Ben, Gwen, Kenneth, and Sunny. Appearance Verdona is a female Anodite whose human form seems to be in her late 50s, early 60s with neck-length silver hair, dark blue eyes, and faint wrinkles, with a blue cloak being her only form of clothing. Her Alien Force/'Ultimate Alien' Anodite form appears to be much younger with a more youthful form and long purple hair made out of energy. When she was younger, Verdona had red hair (similar to Gwen's) in a short haircut, a white-blue dress with a black belt, with a long-sleeved white shirt with a black stripe down the middle (similar to her grandson's t-shirt). Her Omniverse design, which wasn't used, made her look more witch-like with wild pink energy hair, glowing pink eyes, and light lavender skin. She is also dressed in a black dress with the area around her feet being a dark lavender, as is the belt around her waist. She also has a shroud over her shoulders with his purple with a black collar, a gem on her chest. Verdona young human form full body UA.png|Verdona's young human form Verdona_Human_Form.png|Verdona's elderly human form Personality Like all Anodites, Verdona is a free-spirited being. Though sometimes acting more mature and grown-up, she mostly acts like a playful child. She also likes to listen and dance to Max's favorite band, Shag Carpeting. There is also another side of Verdona which is somewhat amoral and uncaring. For example, when she almost destroyed Ben and Kevin when they first confronted her, were it not for the intervention of Gwen and learning who they really were, and when she was willing to destroy her granddaughter's physical human body to release the Anodite inside. She also viewed beings that were not Anodites as being lesser than herself, as she was constantly unimpressed with and condescending on them, especially humans. As such, she was also very apathetic, such as not realizing how hard it was for Gwen to leave her family and friends and was confused by it.What Are Little Girls Made Of? Verdona considers Gwen to be her favorite grandchild, and while initially disappointed that Ben didn't inherit her Anodite like Gwen did, they ultimately reconcile, especially after seeing how much he cares about Gwen. One thing that Verdona has in common with Ben is that they both have an uncanny sense of humor. Also, she was later shown to be a strict disciplinarian and can be serious where she needs to be, like when her other granddaughter, Sunny, misbehaved.Girl Trouble History Background Verdona left her homeworld, Anodyne, in an unspecified time long before the original series and was brought to Earth by a robot alien who had captured her, and wanted to use her to power his planet. They crash landed in St. Louis, and Verdona escaped. Later Max met Verdona in a cafe. Suddenly the Synthroid attacked the cafe. Max and Verdona fled and started to hide. However, the Synthroid was able to find and beat Max and he took away Verdona. Using his telepathic connection with Verdona he was able to locate and rescue her and Magister Labrid, who had come to arrest the Synthroid. The Synthroid was destroyed and the bracelet that prevented Verdona from using her mana powers fell off. Revealing her true form, she asked Max whether he would go with her back to Anodyne. However Max declined, and with a kiss, they parted. At the end of the episode, it was hinted that they met again, and fell deeply in love with each other, and romantically courted. During this time she hid her Anodite heritage from others and blended in with human society. She and Max ended up having two sons, Carl (Ben's dad) and Frank (Ken and Gwen's dad), neither of whom inherited her Anodite-powers. During their time together, Verdona always had to deal with Max's occupation as a Plumber and eventually after a long, happy, and somewhat distant relationship, when their sons were grown and out of the house, she returned to Anodyne; after so many years on Earth, Verdona wanted to get back in touch with her background. Sometime after, when her grandkids were born, she returned to see if they had inherited her powers and abilities and presumably due to Gwen's powers having not been developed yet, she was put under the impression that none of her grandchildren had inherited her powers, until the events of What Are Little Girls Made Of?. Alien Force In What Are Little Girls Made Of?, when news went out about Max's disappearance, Verdona came to his favorite lake to remember the good times they had had together. However, she met with her grandchildren and their friend Kevin, who assumed she was a trespasser. She then magically disappeared, leaving behind a flower at the base of a tree which had engraved a heart with a "Max + Verdona" writing on it. She then returned later in the night, deciding to have a "little fun" with Ben and Kevin. When Gwen intervened, she revealed herself as their paternal grandmother. She then later came to Gwen's house, explaining her history with Max and then offered Gwen to come back with her to Anodyne to reach the full potential of her powers and abilities (which would require seventy-five years). After thinking on the roof, Gwen refused. Verdona then shed her human body, revealing her Anodite form, and thought that Gwen was too young to make her own decisions and decided to destroy her human body to free the dormant Anodite inside, but the two boys' stepped to defend Gwen. After a brief battle that tore up the front lawn (and part of the house), Gwen explains that as much as she loves Verdona, she'd rather stay on Earth and keep maintaining her life as a human. Verdona then tells Gwen that Max should have been an energy being like them, expressing her deep longing for him and that her desire to take Gwen with her could be just a front to fill the void in her heart. Verdona then magically patches up the damage and flies into space, claiming to return every so often to see how Gwen and the others are doing. Ultimate Alien Verdona made a reappearance in Girl Trouble, where she was able to overpower Sunny, who was attacking Gwen, and she took Sunny and her boyfriend Antonio back to their home planets and allow their parents to decide on their punishment. Verdona talks with Gwen for a bit, complimenting her for being clever enough to call her through her mana field, also stating that her powers are improving/developing quite nicely despite her lack of formal training (as well as not being a full-blooded Anodite like her and Sunny). She then asked Gwen to accompany her to Anodyne but Gwen still refused. Verdona takes the rejection in stride and flies off with Sunny and Antonio. Powers and Abilities Verdona is a full-fledged Anodite, an energy being who draws life from the mana around her, and she can manipulate mana for a variety of effects. Most commonly she projects this magenta/pink-colored energy in the form of destructive blasts. Being decades older and more experienced than Gwen and Sunny, Verdona's powers dwarf those of her granddaughters'. She could create a human body for her to 'wear' in order to blend in with humanity. She could also teleport and fly, in both human and Anodite form. Interestingly, Verdona seemed to formerly have an innate, natural human body back when she first met Max, seeing as she shifted into her Anodite form rather than shedding her human disguise when her power limiting bracelet fell off, suggesting that she used to have a natural human body like her granddaughter. She also showed some limited degree of reality warping, seen when she fixed a broken glass at Gwen's house, created strong duct tape around Ben’s mouth, and repaired Gwen's house when it was destroyed during their fight with a mere snap of her fingers. This also shifted Ben and Kevin back to their human forms. She is also telepathically connected to her lover, Max. Appearances Ben 10: Alien Force Season 1 *''What Are Little Girls Made Of?'' (first appearance) Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Season 3 *''Girl Trouble'' (first reappearance) *''Moonstruck'' (flashback) *''The Ultimate Enemy: Part 2'' (flashback; cameo) Video Games Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks *Verdona appears in Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks where she is instructed by Max to take Ben, Gwen and Kevin to Anur Phaetos. Trivia *Natalie and Verdona don't like each other. The reason why has never been revealed. *Verdona was merely toying with Ben, Gwen, and Kevin during her debut episode's climax. *Verdona approves of Gwen and Kevin's relationship, except that it might be keeping Gwen from going Anodite. *Verdona is not fascinated by the Omnitrix because it's beneath her. *Verdona was based on Endora from Bewitched. *While Gwen and Sunny are both granddaughters to Verdona, but while Sunny is a full-blooded Anodite like Verdona while Gwen's technically an Anodite/human-hybrid, it can be assumed that Verdona must have had at least one other child (likely with a fellow Anodite) either before or after she met Max and they had their sons, Carl and Frank, who in turn is one of Sunny's parents. **This means that Ben, Gwen and Ken have a whole other set of aunts/uncles/cousins through Verdona's side of the family. Also, this would technically make Sunny half-cousin of Ben, Gwen and Ken, since one of her parents is the maternal half-sibling of Carl and Frank. *Her Omniverse design was created by Shakeh Haghnazarian. **However, she didn't make the cut for The Most Dangerous Game Show for unknown reasons. Her role was limited to when Ben's relatives are zapped out. References Crew Statements Dwayne McDuffie Matt Wayne Derrick J. Wyatt See Also *Max Tennyson and Verdona Category:Anodites Category:Characters Category:Aliens Category:Female Aliens Category:Parents Category:Allies Category:Magic Category:Females Category:Heroes Category:Female Heroes Category:Former Villains Category:Tennyson Family Category:Alien Force Characters Category:Minor Characters Category:Introduced in Alien Force Category:Ultimate Alien Characters